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From Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s 14 Points: Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody’s job.

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From Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s 14 Points: Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody’s job.

Earlier in my career, I had the opportunity to visit the corporate headquarters of a major manufacturing company. The company directory at the entrance revealed a concern that may explain why this particular company’s improvement efforts were struggling.

The directory showed that there was a corporate quality department on one floor and a corporate Six Sigma group on a different floor. There was also a corporate manufacturing engineering group, as well as a lean production system department (and yes, they were in different parts of the building as well). A corporate operational excellence group also was listed.

Imagine the heated discussions that occur when a plant calls asking for corporate help. “Hey! That is a quality problem, we should take the lead.” “No, we need to do a full Six Sigma analysis, we will take the lead!” “Wait a minute! This problem is driving non-value added activity. The lean production group should be in charge!”

Of course, each of these departments will want to take credit for any cost savings that might be realized in order to justify their existence. This is bound to create a lot of confusion and resentment out in the manufacturing locations. The plant leaders would probably think twice before calling the corporate office.

Don’t misunderstand. There is a role that corporate resources can play in assisting a company’s improvement efforts (I led a corporate improvement team for several years). However, the support activities need to be well coordinated and must support and enhance the efforts that are taking place on the shop floor. Otherwise, a belief may develop that improvement ideas and actions must come from corporate “experts” versus getting employees at all levels and functions involved.

"Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody’s job." Dr. Deming listed this point as the 14th and final point of his list of key principles of running a successful company. I have always thought this point was pretty obvious. However, with all of the emphasis on certifying “experts” and establishing lean and Six Sigma departments, have we lost sight of why this point is critically important?

The following example may help shed light on why this is one of Dr. Deming’s 14 points.

Mary was tired… and bored. Her eyelids felt heavy as she struggled to stay awake. She sat at her assembly station waiting for the production line to start moving again. “Third time this week we have been shut down for an extended period of time,” thought Mary. “And it is only Wednesday.”

She noticed Doug, a manufacturing engineer, walking down the aisle near her station. She had worked with Doug on a couple of project teams.

“Hey, Doug, over here,” she yelled.

“Hey, Mary,” Doug said as he walked over to her station. “You look bored.”

“Yeah… You would look bored too if you had nothing to do but sit in one spot, waiting for who knows how long, for the production line to start back up. Why are we down this time?”

Discuss this Article 6

This is Part 1 of a 3 Part Series that will explore the key components of a successful improvement initiative: Tools, Culture, and Innovation. It seems that many companies do well in one or two of these areas but struggle to do all three. In one plant I visited, for example, they had implemented many of the tools but had not addressed their cultural issues, so many of the tools were being violated on a regular basis. I hope you enjoy this series. - John Dyer

This was an excellent article to read, John.
As I said on Twitter when I first saw the post, the employees in a business are often the biggest enablers (and barriers) to sustainable positive change. Involving and engaging them every step of the way leads to them taking ownership of changes and acting as a voice within the business, promoting and advocating new ways of working. From my experience, it's these people who do the best job of influencing those who resist change.

Very nice article John
It is amazing how many companies hire managers because of their problem solving skills. I believe that there is nothing more disrespectful than managers solving the problems of our employees. We need to be selecting our leaders with the ability of creating a learning environment like the one you described in your article (Doug and Mary). I am looking forward to your next article.
Ron

Thanks Jashua and Ron, I appreciate the feedback. It is good to hear that IndustryWeek readers are enjoying my articles. Be sure to check out my previous articles by clicking my name that is located below the title.

Engagement AND alignment at all levels is key. When all are engaged and rowing in the same direction even the smallest increments add up to significant change and, with a robust process for proper eval / review/ verification, improved results

I enjoyed reading the article - you hit the nail on the head. I strongly believe that the more employees (doing the jobs) are aware of the problem solving/improvement tools/approaches available to them, the more effective (and sustainable) improvement efforts will be.

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